Bangkok, Thailand

In a bid to raise awareness of the RIR system and the issues currently facing the Internet community, APNIC recently participated in ITU Telecom Asia, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand, on 2-5 September 2008.

With almost 85% of IPv4 addresses already allocated or reserved, IPv6 adoption was hot on the agenda of important issues APNIC brought to the ITU meeting.

At present, Asia leads the world in terms of growth in Internet connectivity, and Paul Wilson, APNIC Director General, argued that the economic possibilities of effective Internet adoption should not be underestimated for this region.

In terms of IP address distribution, Asia holds 30% of the global IPv4 address space; and over the last two years, the region has seen 35% growth in requests for IPv4 address allocation.

For this reason, IPv6 deployment is particularly important for network operators in the Asia Pacific. For effective IPv6 deployment, policy makers must encourage IPv6 compliance as best practice for public and private infrastructure.

Paul commented: "With vast demand for the Internet in the Asia Pacific, the future of the Internet in the region lies in rapid IPv6 acceptance and deployment. Pervasive home broadband, wireless broadband and mobile Internet access are driving an Internet-fuelled society. Now, telecommunications companies' stakeholders need to start the planning process for continent-wide IPv6 implementation.

Failure to adopt IPv6 may hamper the development of Internet growth and innovation for Asia Pacific nations.

APNIC is currently building a library of online resources that is open to all stakeholders across the Asia Pacific. It includes the latest on IPv6 research, the process for applying for APNIC resources, and IPv6 training resources.

APNIC also produced an informational presentation dealing with IPv6 in both English and Thai language, which was displayed at the ITU event: (English | Thai)

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